The Organisation

MSI Asia Pacific (MSIAP) is part of the MSI Reproductive Choices global partnership.

As our name suggests, we are unapologetically pro-choice. We believe that everyone should have the freedom to determine their own future, on their terms.

Our teams work across 36 countries and six continents, supporting over 93,000 women and girls to access reproductive healthcare — including abortion and contraception — every day.

With the help of our partners and donors around the world, we open doors, advocate for change, and strengthen public and private sector provision. We go further than anyone to make reproductive choice possible, and ensure quality reproductive healthcare is available for the long-term.

By supporting women and girls to make the choices that are right for them, we can make a generational impact — increasing gender equality, breaking cycles of poverty and contributing to several sustainable development goals.

MSIAP is committed to creating an inclusive environment. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and give equal consideration to all qualified applicants without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or age. We are committed to promoting equality and to safeguarding the welfare of all team members and clients, with a focus on vulnerable groups.

MSIAP welcomes applications from people with relevant lived experience, including people originating from the countries in which MSI works.

The Role

MSIAP is based in Naarm-Melbourne. We are one of three support offices housing shared services for MSI’s country programs. MSIAP leads advocacy, income generation and grant management for the Asia and Pacific region. These shared services include technical assistance on Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI). The GEDSI technical assistance supports country programmes from Afghanistan to Papua New Guinea to apply a gender transformative and intersectional approach.

MSIAP’s outgoing advisor has supported MSI’s country programs in the Asia and Pacific region to conduct GEDSI assessments, develop strategies and implement intervention. MSIAP is recruiting a new Senior Advisor to carry this work forward.

The Senior Advisor will support MSI’s country programs in the Asia and Pacific region to maximise opportunities to reach women, adolescents, people with disabilities, people who are of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity and respond to their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) needs.

This will involve working closely with MSIAP’s other technical advisors and grant officers and MSI’s country programs to integrate gender transformative and socially inclusive approaches into our work and evaluate their impact.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead GEDSI capacity strengthening: Support CPs to periodically assess their GEDSI capacity; design and deliver capacity strengthening initiatives for CPs; and facilitate a GEDSI community of practice among GEDSI leads across the Asia and Pacific region. 
• Provide GEDSI technical assistance: Support MSI’s country programs to develop and implement GEDSI strategies at a project and organisational level; and develop tools, frameworks and other resources to support the implementation of GEDSI strategies. 
• Build networks and partnerships: Build strategic networks and partnerships that support the GEDSI-related advocacy and programming goals of MSIAP and MSI’s country programs.
• Support institutional fundraising: Support efforts to catalyse funding opportunities; contribute to the design of proposals, including the intervention design, results framework and budget; lead gender marker assessments for proposals; review proposals; and field GEDSI-related questions from prospective donors. 
• Support evidence generation and knowledge translation: Contribute to the design, planning and implementation of research, monitoring and evaluation of projects; support MSI country programs develop case studies which showcase our approaches and learning; identify learning and results which can be showcased in publications, communication materials and conferences; and ensure MSIAP is kept up to date on relevant developments in the SRH and adjacent sector. 
• Thought leadership: Position MSIAP as a leader on GEDSI in the Asia and Pacific region; represent MSIA in relevant internal and external forums and working groups. 
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI): Provide support in the development and implementation of the MSIAP Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) Action Plan. 
• Advise MSIAP’s leadership: Support MSIAP’s leadership team to strengthen their capacity and the organisation’s approach to GEDSI; contribute to board reports, risk committees and other internal forums. 
• Foster collaboration: Proactively collaborate with internal stakeholders across the MSI global partnership including the GEDSI and DEI leads at the Global Support Office. 

Desirable Skills, Knowledge and Experience

In summary, we are looking for someone with a combination of GEDSI technical expertise and practical experience of successfully applying this in an international setting and in the context of SRH programming. If you think you could excel in this position, but you don’t tick all the boxes below, please get in touch. However, please note the location, visa status and salary are not flexible.

Skills

• Cultural competence.
• Providing technical assistance.
• Influencing others.
• Developing strategies, policies and workplans.
• Working collaboratively with diverse stakeholders, including clients, colleagues, partners and governments.
• Communicating effectively.
• Analysing qualitative and quantitative data.
• Synthesising information.
• Writing with brevity.
• Leading workshops.
• Using Office 365.

Knowledge

• GEDSI and intersectionality.
• Gender marker assessments.
• DFAT GEDSI compliance requirements.
• Knowledge translation.
• Sexual and reproductive health.
• Health systems strengthening, in low resource settings.
• The Asia and Pacific region.

Experience

• Relevant lived experience.
• 5+ years providing GEDSI technical assistance.
• 3+ years working with local partners.
• 3+ years working on international development programmes, ideally in the Asia and Pacific region.
• 3+ years providing capacity strengthening.
• 3+ years working on projects funded by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

Qualifications

• Relevant degree or equivalent relevant professional experience. 

Personal Attributes

• Unequivocally pro-choice.
• Team player; energetic, enthusiastic and positive.
• Quality-focused and results-oriented
• Calm under pressure.
• Strong attention to detail and follow-up.
• Ability to take initiative and achieve results with limited supervision.
• Highly organised.
• Responsive, resourceful and committed.
• Sound judgement.  
• Emotional intelligence.
• Integrity.

MSI’s Core Values

• Mission driven: We go to work every day to enable more women to have children by choice, not chance
• Customer focused: We meet the needs and exceed the expectations of all our customers: service users, donors, host governments and fellow team members
• Results orientated: We achieve high quality, measurable outcomes, rather than focusing on inputs or processes
• Pioneering: Through learning, innovation, and risk taking, we remain at the forefront of family planning, safe abortion and reproductive healthcare globally
• Sustainable: We build effective programmes and change behaviours which will have lasting impact for individuals, their communities and their countries
• People-centred: Our continued success depends on the creativity, commitment and courage of MSI team members worldwide.

MSIAP is a child-safe organisation and has zero tolerance for sexual exploitation abuse and harassment. All successful applicants will be required to abide by our Child Safeguarding Code of Conduct and our Global Code of Conduct in addition to undergoing a police check prior to commencement. 

Application process

Please apply by submitting:

• A resume, no longer than 4 pages.
• A cover letter introducing yourself and explaining your motivation for applying, no longer than 1 page. 

Applications can be submitted:

• In writing to MSI Asia Pacific, PO Box 2335, FITZROY VIC 3065 or
• Via the "Apply Now" button.

The application process will involve:

1. Shortlisting of anonymised applications by a panel.
2. Interview with a small panel of MSIAP staff.
3. Interview with a small panel of MSIAP and MSI country programs staff.
4. Provisional verbal job offer, subject to satisfactory references and background checks.
5. Formal written job offer and contract. 

Applicants invited for interviews will receive a set of questions in advance. 

Applicants are encouraged to highlight any factors requiring reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process.